Gazette Daily News Briefing, December 10
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Friday, December 10.
Friday’s weather will continue our up and down variety we’ve had lately. According to the National Weather Service there will be a high of 41 degrees in the Cedar Rapids area with a chance for rain mainly coming after 3 p.m. Then Friday night, snow will become a possibility along with the rain, with a low near 31 degrees. Snow accumulation of less than a half inch is predicted.
Fifteen months after a University of Iowa student told investigators she was sexually assaulted by a pair of fraternity brothers who shared video and pictures of the attack on social media, Iowa City police have arrested one of the accused men on a harassment charge.
Carson Douglas Steffen, 20, of North Liberty, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of first-degree harassment, an aggravated misdemeanor, which generally is punishable by up to two years in jail and a fine potentially in the thousands of dollars.
UI student Makena Solberg asserted in an October lawsuit that on Sept. 4 to 5, 2020, she was sexually assaulted in the Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity — called FIJI — operating at the University of Iowa.
The criminal count against Steffen does not charge him with a sexual assault, but rather says that about 3:30 a.m. Sept. 5, 2020, he sent “a photo to multiple persons on Snapchat” of the victim “engaged in a sex act with another male.”
Although the alleged assault occurred last fall, news of the lagging police response and absence of charges prompted days of protests, including one inciting thousands and extensive damage to the FIJI house.
Omicron, the newest variant of the novel coronavirus, has been detected in an Iowa resident, state public health officials say.
The state’s first case of the COVID-19 variant was detected in an unvaccinated individual under the age of 18 who lives in Black Hawk County, the State Hygienic Lab confirmed on Thursday. The unidentified individual remains asymptomatic at this time.
The case was the result of travel exposure, and was detected after the family sought testing based on public health recommendations, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health. The individual, as well as the family, is in isolation, state officials say.
Though it’s still unclear whether omicron is more dangerous than delta or other variants, experts say initial data shows it is likely more transmissible and has the ability to spread to individuals quickly, potentially avoiding some levels of immunity.
This, along with already surging COVID-19 numbers, led area hospitals Thursday to plead with Iowans to both seek vaccination if they haven’t gotten it already, and to get a booster shot if they completed their vaccine regimen more than 6 months ago. Pfizer released info this week that the booster shot should help protect against the omicron variant, although more research still is needed to see how it interacts with vaccinated people.
One of the teens charged with killing the Spanish language teacher at Fairfield High School last month is asking a judge to move his case to juvenile court, where he would face a lesser sentence if convicted.
Christine Branstad, the defense attorney for Willard Chaiden Miller, who is charged as an adult with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit a forcible felony, is asking the court for a reverse waiver — moving Miller’s case from adult court to juvenile court. She said because Miller is 16 years old, a transfer to juvenile court is appropriate according to Iowa law.
Branstad, in a request filed Wednesday, also cites Miller’s lack of criminal history as a reason for the court to consider the waiver. She also requests a report from Juvenile Court Services.
Jefferson County Attorney Chauncey Moulding, in his resistance to the waiver, said first-degree murder is a forcible felony and juveniles 16 years of age or older are excluded from the jurisdiction of juvenile court, unless good cause is shown.
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